Senators seek help for porcine diarrhea virus

Published: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at 07:30 PM.

For a virus foreign to American shores until last year, the porcine endemic diarrhea virus has dealt a heavy blow to pork production in at least 25 states and counting.

On March 11, U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking him to open funds in the livestock disaster program to assist producers whose pigs become infected.

“The virus has a reported mortality rate of nearly 100 percent for piglets under two weeks old,” the senators wrote. “Consequently, pork producers that have been impacted by PEDv face economic devastation, these producers are ﬁnally experiencing periods of higher margins after prolonged periods of razor thin proﬁts.

“If this disease persists, pork herds will continue to diminish and producers risk going out of business.”

For a virus foreign to American shores until last year, the porcine endemic diarrhea virus has dealt a heavy blow to pork production in at least 25 states and counting.

On March 11, U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking him to open funds in the livestock disaster program to assist producers whose pigs become infected.

“The virus has a reported mortality rate of nearly 100 percent for piglets under two weeks old,” the senators wrote. “Consequently, pork producers that have been impacted by PEDv face economic devastation, these producers are ﬁnally experiencing periods of higher margins after prolonged periods of razor thin proﬁts.

“If this disease persists, pork herds will continue to diminish and producers risk going out of business.”

According to a presentation made at a U.S. Department of Agriculture forum by Dr. Liz Wagstrom, representing the National Pork Producers Council, mass piglet deaths in affected herds can mean a total loss of production from six to eight weeks.

“If the pigs die before they can be sold, then the farmer does not get paid for that pig,” said Eve Honeycutt of the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension office. “So this disease is taking a huge economic toll on the cash flow of the farm. They still have to pay for the gas to keep the pigs warm, the electricity, and the loan that bought the farm.”

She continued, “If they lose a large amount of piglets and receive no money, it will indeed stress the farmer financially. It will take a toll on the community when multiple farm families lose entire quarterly paychecks.”

There’s yet to be conclusive evidence of the disease slowing down, as well. According to Wagstrom’s presentation, the first instance of PEDv in the United States happened in Ohio in May 2013 and was nearly identical to a strain seen in China – PEDv is more frequently seen in places like China, Korea, Thailand and various European nations.

From Ohio it spread across the Midwest and appeared in North Carolina by July. Nationally, the number of new cases and diagnostic case submissions has continued to climb, and Honeycutt said local herds haven’t been spared.

“The number of cases of PEDv in Lenoir County has increased over the past few months,” Honeycutt said. “At sow farms, nurseries, and finishing farms, the disease continues to spread. The prolonged cold temperatures are only fueling the spread – piglets that experience cold stress are more likely to be overcome by the disease simply because their body is stressed.”

The livestock disaster program was permanently extended as part of the 2014 farm bill that was passed by Congress and signed into law in February, but there’s yet to be word from the USDA as to whether the agency will invoke the program to combat PEDv losses or not.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.